Dr Sowmiya Moorthie

Who Dr Sowmiya Moorthie is

Dr Sowmiya Moorthie is a Senior Strategic Evidence Manager within the Evidence and Implementation Department at Cancer Research UK. She leads work on horizon scanning and impact assessment of new cancer innovations aimed at early detection and diagnosis. Before joining Cancer Research UK, she worked as a senior policy analyst at a health policy think tank and in academia, including at the PHG Foundation in Cambridge and as a research associate at Cambridge Public Health. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Master's in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has argued publicly that current NICE referral criteria miss large numbers of women under 50 at higher risk of breast cancer, and that any move towards personalised risk-stratified screening must be both accessible and equitable.

References for this biography

1. 1.Dr Sowmiya Moorthie – UK National Screening Committee blog — Current role title (Senior Strategic Evidence Manager, Evidence and Implementation Department, Cancer Research UK), remit (horizon scanning and impact assessment of cancer innovations for early detection), and prior background as senior policy analyst at a health policy think tank and in academia.
2. 2.NICE referral criteria miss up to 95% of women under 50 who go on to develop breast cancer within 10 years – EurekAlert — Evidence of press quotation in health coverage; her stated position on risk-stratified breast cancer identification and equity.
3. 3.Dr Sowmiya Moorthie – Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy network profile — PhD from University of Cambridge, Master's in Epidemiology from LSHTM, prior work on polygenic scores and PHG Foundation projects, associate editor of Journal of Community Genetics, research associate at Cambridge Public Health.
4. 4.Proactive breast cancer risk assessment in primary care – British Journal of Cancer (2023) — Peer-reviewed publication co-authorship, confirms academic affiliation and expertise in cancer risk assessment and screening.
5. 5.Multi-cancer earlier detection tests: implications for screening programmes – Cancer Research UK Cancer News — Confirms her role as author on Cancer Research UK's published analysis of multi-cancer tests and screening policy.
6. 6.Cancer Research UK – Charity Commission register — Cancer Research UK head office address: 2 Redman Place, London E20 1JQ.

Notable achievements

• Co-authored analysis for the UK National Screening Committee blog on multi-cancer earlier detection tests and their implications for screening programmes (August 2024). Source ↗
• Co-authored peer-reviewed paper in the British Journal of Cancer on proactive breast cancer risk assessment in primary care, examining principles of screening (2023). Source ↗
• Quoted in press coverage of research showing NICE referral criteria miss up to 95% of women under 50 who go on to develop breast cancer within 10 years, calling for more personalised and equitable risk identification. Source ↗

What Dr Sowmiya Moorthie has said

• “Using AI to assist in reading mammograms can be more efficient, but there's a concern that it can lead to missing some cancers. This study helps to address concerns, but the results are from a single centre, so more research will be needed to know for sure if this will help save lives.”

  Senior strategic evidence manager at Cancer Research UK · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · AI use in breast cancer screening cuts rate of later diagnosis by 12%, study finds ↗

• “Any changes must be accessible and equitable, taking into consideration the anxiety that extra referrals might cause for women”

  from the charity Cancer Research UK · Cancer · 10 Aug 2026 · Breast cancer checks missing most women under 50 who are at risk, says study ↗

Where Dr Sowmiya Moorthie has been quoted

1. Women under 50 at risk of breast cancer are not being referred - studynews.sky.com · 30 Sept 2026
2. AI use in breast cancer screening cuts rate of later diagnosis by 12%, study findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. Breast cancer checks missing most women under 50 who are at risk, says studybbc.co.uk · 10 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• 'Terminal prostate cancer has taught me one lesson I want to pass on'BBC
• You have a higher chance of getting cancer at a younger age than your parents. So what went wrong? | Devi SridharThe Guardian
• MHRA approves catumaxomab to treat cancer-related fluid build-up in the abdomenGOV.UK

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://nationalscreening.blog.gov.uk/author/dr-sowmiya-moorthie/
• Websitehttps://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/people/researchers/sowmiya-moorthie
• Websitehttps://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/network/sowmiya-moorthie/

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.